Thomas gibson and edward armstrong



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. T. GIBSON 82; E. ARMSTRONG.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING UP PELTS. No. 257,314. Patented May 2,1882.

N. PETERS. Pholn-Lilhoglaphcr, Wlshingtan, D c.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. T. GIBSON & E..ARMSTRONG.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING UP PELTS. No. 257,314.

Patented May 2,1882.

N. PETERS, Photo Lnm hu flash UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS GIBSON AND EDYVARD ARMSTRONG, OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNORS TOHITOHOOGK, DERMODY 8a 00., OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING UP PELTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 257,314, dated May 2,1-882.

Application filed December 27, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THOMAS GIBSON and EDWARD ARMSTRONG, of Brooklyn, inthe county of Kings and State of New York, have 5 invented a new anduseful Improvement in Machines for Cutting up Felts; and the followingis declared to be a description of the same.

' Pelts or skins of animals with the furor hair on have for years beenused commercially-the fur or hair for felting purposes and the skin forglue; but the separation of these parts has not heretofore beenaccomplished in the most desirable manner. The machine heretofore 1 5employed for cutting up pelts contained rotary cutters having knivesthat are screwed upon the outer surfaces of heads fastened upon a shaft.It has, however, been very difficult to make the cylinder with theseknives perfectly 2o balanced so as to run true and without vibrating themachine under the'high rate of speed employed. Besides this, the fur orhair (after its separation from the skin) has been delivered near theplace where the pelt is fed in; hence there is not room for the workmento work with advantage.

Our improved machine is designed to 0bviate preexisting difficulties.WVe employ a rotary cutter that is constructed so as to be 0 perfectlybalanced, and the fur or hair is taken away by a belt to a point ofdelivery that is at some distance from the place where the pelts are fedin, and the strips of skin are delivered at the side of the machine, outof the 5 way of the attendants. \Ve also use a fur or dust box, intowhich the fine pieces of fur or hair from the skins are delivered asthrown off by the revolving cutters.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side elevation 40 of the machinecomplete. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the machine. Fig. 3 .is afront elevation of the machine with the armrest removed, and Fig. 4 is aplan view of the cutters and forward part of the machine with 4 5 thedust-cover of the cutters removed.

Power is communicated to the machine bythe belt a and fast and loosepulleys b. 1) upon the shaft 0; and d is a belt-shifter of the usualform for starting and stopping the machine,

and said belt-shifter is moved by the foot of the operator upon thelever d; The wheels e 0 upon the shaft 0 and the belts ff give mo tionto the pulleys g g upon the cutter-shaft h.

The shaft h and cutter-head are of one piece of metal. The cutter-headis made as a cylinder. Its exterior surface is turned off true. Thejournals at the ends are also turned true. The cylinder and shaft aresupported on centers in a shaping-machine or planer, and grooves areplaned in such cylinder, as seen at 6 Five of these grooves arerepresented, and each groove is inclined to the axis of the cutterhead,as seen in Fig. 2, so as to be adapted to the reception of the twistedcutter i, which acts with a shearing out against the standing shear k.We have represented fiveof these cutters i secured to the bodyt' bytap-bolts, and said cutters are slotted for the bolts to pass throughthem, so as to be capable of being brought forward toward the standingcutter-bar k as they wear away, and they are easily removed or replacedas occasion may require. The cutters 'i and cutter-bar 70 extend acrossbetween the side frames, A, and there is a cover or dust-cap, l, overthe cutters, 7 5 and said cover is hinged at 1 to the frame of themachine, behind the cutters, and the arms 2 extend forward from thedust-cap, and are connected at 3 by a cross-bar, which serves the doublepurpose of an arm-rest and lever to keep the cover down or lift it up,as necessary. These arms also serve to apply pressare to thefeed-rollers.

There are small grooved'ieeding-rollers m n, which areclose to thestanding cutter is, and nip the pelt as it is fed in head first betweenthe rollers and carried forward to the shear k and revolving cutters t",and these cutters, revolving at a high rate of speed, cut up the hide orskin into small shreds and cut off the 0 hairs near their roots, andhence the hairs will be left against the outer surface of the stand in gcutter k, and will not be carried away by the revolving cutters i, andthe accumulation of hairs against this standing shear will cause 5 suchhairs to pass down the incline o in the form of a fleece correspondingin size and shape to the skin, or nearly so, as the hairs mat and holdtogether. The shreds of hide out up by the cutters-t are thrown downinto I00 the receptacle and upon the endless belt a, which belt carriesthem off laterally, and they fall over the end roller down the incline sto the floor or into a receptacle. The fleece of fur or hair upon theincline 0 ceases to be held up by the skin as soon as the last of thepelt has been out up by the cutters i, and said fleece then slides downsaid incline o and off upon the incline t, by which its direction ischanged, and it is delivered upon the endless belt u, which carries itforward to the roller 25, where the fur or hair is taken by a roller,1;, which is revolving in the same direction as the roller 4, andprevents the mass of fur or hair adhering to the belt a. Said fur orhair then slides down the incline w upon a table, at which theoperatives sort over the mass of fur or hair, separating the inferior orrefuse portions from the most valuable parts, as usual in preparing foror hair for felting purposes.

The mass of fur or hair as separated from the hide is upon the incline0, with the outer side uppermost, or, in other words, with the points ofthe fur visible. In its passage from the incline 0 to the incline t themass of fur or hair slides downwardly and passes to the incline t, thepoints of the hair now being downwardly, and this position is maintainedduring the passage to the hands of the operator. The refuse from thecutters i, which is in the form of dust and fine fur or hair, is carriedinto the box 1) of the machine, and then through the opening 5 into thereceptacle 1), where it is allowed to settle. The speed of the cutterssets up a current of air through the receptacles 11 and p and dust-box,the exit for which air is through the wire-gauze gratings at 6, andthese gratings are removable, so that the accumulation of material inthe dust box or receptacle p can be taken out at pleasure.

The wheels 7 and 8 are upon the same shaft, and are secured in a bearingupon the frame A of the machine. The wheel 7 is belted to the wheel 9 onthe driving-shaft c of the machine, and the wheel 8 is belted to thewheel 10, which wheel has a bearing on the top of the frame of themachine. Upon the same shaft as the wheel 10 there is a toothed wheel,11, gearing into a toothed wheel, 12, which is upon the shaft of thefeedingroller n, and the bearings of these shafts are upon the top ofthe frame A of the machine.

The feeding-roller at has its bearing, by preference, in the frame ofthe cover Z, and when the cover is raised the roller m is also raised,thereby giving easier access to the cutters and cutter-bar, and thesefeeding-rollers in and n are connected and driven by toothed wheels 13and lat upon their respective axes. (See Figs. 3 and 4.)

The endless belt 1' is around the rollers 15 16, and is driven from awheel, 17, upon the axis of roller 15, which is belted to a wheel, 18,upon the driving-shaft c of the machine. The roller 16 is supported by aframe, as shown,

and said belt r can be tightened as itbecomcs loose by the adjustablescrew and nut 19. The wheels 20 and 21 are upon the same shaft orspindle, and secured, as shown in Fig. 1, to the side of the frame A ofthe machine. The wheel 20 is belted to a wheel, 22, upon thedriving-shaft c, and the wheel 21 is cross-belted to a wheel, 23, whichis upon the same shaft as the roller 24., which carries one end of thebelt a, and motion is communicated to said belt u from the driving-shaftc by means of these belts and wheels 22, 20, 21, and 23.

The endless belt a is driven by wheel 23 and roller 24, and it passesaround this roller 24, and also around the roller 25, which is.supported by the brackets 26. The brackets 26 are supported by theframe Aof the machine, and there are adjustable rods 27 in the ends ofthese brackets, acted upon by nuts in recesses in the brackets, asshown, and these rods carry the bearings that support the roller 25, soas to tighten the belt a if it becomes loose.

The roller 12 is driven by cog-wheels 28 from the shaft of roller 25,and it is carried by bearin gs secured to the bearingsthat supportroller 25. (See Fig. 1.)

There is a brush at 29 extending across the width of the machine, andits use is to clean the revolving cutters i from any particles that mayadhere to them, and there are adjustable bolts at 30, which serve tocontrol the relation of the revolving cutters i to the cutter-bar k andkeep them in contact.

We claim as our invention 1. In a pelt-cutting machine, the cylindricalcutter-head, grooved longitudinally and at an inclination to the axis,and provided with the twisted cutters bolted upon the head and withinsuch grooves, substantially as set forth.

2. In a machine for cutting up pelts, the

combination of the shear k, revolving cutters i, feeding-rollers m andn, and belt 1", substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. In a machine for cutting up pelts, the combination of thefeeding-rollers m and a, shear 7c, revolving cutters t", inclines 0 andt, and belt a, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In a machine for cutting up pelts, the combination of thefeeding-rollers mand a, revolving cutters i, receptacle belt 1*, andincline s, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. The combination,inamachine for cutting up pelts, of the adjustablerevolving cutters t", cutter-bar 7r, cleaning-brush 29, dust-receptacle19, and removable grating 6,. substantially as and for the purposes setforth.

6. The combination, in a machine for cutting up pelts, of thefeeding-rollers m and n, adjustable revolving cutters i, cutter-bar 7c,cleaning-brush 29, and dust-receptacle p, substantially as and for thepurposes set forth.

7. The combination, in amachine for cutting up pelts, of the revolvinghead and adjustable cutters i, (lust cap or cover Z, arms 2, andweighted arm-rest 3, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

8. The combination, with the endless belts r and u, of the brackets androllers 25 and 24 and the adj Listing-screws 1'9 and 27, for tighteningup the belts as they become1oose,as set forth.

9. The combination of the feeding-rollers m and a, revolving cutters i,cutter-bar 7c, inclines o and t, belt at for the delivery of the fleeceof fur, the roller v, and incline w, substantially as and for thepurposes set forth.

THOMAS GIBSON. EDWARD ARMSTRONG.

Witnesses:

GEO. T. PINGKNEY, WILLIAM G. MOTT.

